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Counting Birds This Holiday Season

Armed with binoculars, spotting scopes, cameras, and notepads, and assisted by experts who immediately can tell the difference between a Western tanager and a goldfinch, or between a Downy woodpecker and its Hairy cousin, devoted birders across the hemisphere will be heading to plots with a 15-mile radius over the next three weeks to see what they can see during the 124th annual Christmas Bird Count.

Safeguarding Sombrero Island With The Anguilla National Trust

To get to tiny Sombrero Island, you must travel 34 miles from Anguilla by sea, dart across the bow of your boat and climb a steel ladder anchored to a limestone cliff. Then, as you regain your bearings and stroll across a barren moonscape plundered by a seabird guano mining operation, the wildlife welcome party makes itself known.